Mentors
by KatnissThaliaMaxZoey
Summary: A wonderful tale featuring a psychotic,twisted seventeen-year old,a woman named after the love goddess who doesn't like love,and a mostly forgotten bitter rivalry.Care to pull up a chair and watch the action unfold?
1. Betrayals and Flaring Tempers

Mentors

DISCLAIMER:I do not own The Hunger Games or Mags,they belong to the amazing Suzanne Collins.

Chapter 1: Betrayals and Flaring Tempers

I never thought that exactly sixteen years ago, I would win the Hunger Games. But I did. And now I'm stuck mentoring the girl tributes of District One until another victor comes along. We've been on a losing streak for sixteen years. Today, the 34th Hunger Games begin. I sit in my chair in the District One Mentor's Room. There's one room for each district. Each room has three screens, two showing the tributes from that district and one showing the Games in general. When one or both of the tributes dies, the screen or screens turn off. Below the screens is a brightly colored panel showing how much sponsor money the tributes have, and what the mentors can buy for them. But we Career mentors mostly avoid that-because our tributes are most often in an alliance, until the final few- except for the ones that are housing the rest of us. There's a knock on my door.

"Come in." I say.

Jael Cross, a tall, dark-haired woman around my age from District Two, enters the room.

"Aphrodite, are you coming to the District Four room? The rest of the Career mentors are there."

"Sure." I say. It's tradition that the mentors of the Career tributes stay in one of their district's mentor's rooms to watch the Games, talk strategy, and bet on which of their tributes will last the longest. We rotate between rooms-1, 2, year; we're in 4.I get up from my chair and follow Jael to the District Four mentor's room. In it are Mags and Perseus, the mentors from 4, Kougar, from 2, Silver, my partner, from 1, and Marable and Newton from 3, which is a surprise to me, since normally Three isn't Career.

"You're late." Kougar snarls at us.

"I know. Sorry." I tell him as I sink into an oh-so-comfy easy chair.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's get down to business." Mags says. She's the oldest of all of us. She won the Games a few years before I did.

"Aphrodite, who do you think has the best chance of winning?" I don't even think about my answer.

"Dragan." I tell her.

Her eyebrows rise. "Really? I expected you'd pick one of the tributes from your district." "Normally I would, but Dragan…he's a complete monster. He'll win easily." I say. My tributes also have a good chance, but I think Dragan's just better. The boy from my district, Jake, actually reminds me of my boyfriend, back when I cared about such , he was also tragically killed in the Hunger Games, by none other than 're technically even now, since I killed her best friend in my Games, but I know I'll never truly forgive her for killing the first guy I actually loved. The girl, Molly, is a typical District One Career girl, nothing more.

"Not necessarily." Jael says. "Cayli and Elin have a good shot, too."

"So do Vanessa and Victor,besides, their last name is _Lethal_." Marable says.

"I'm starting to think that's not their real last name." Newton says.

"Cayli's…what? Fourteen? She'll never make it." Says Silver.

Jael smiles deviously. "Cayli is fourteen,yes, but she's trained. She's wanted to be in the Games ever since she can remember. She told me she has the skills of 18-year-old Careers."

"In that case, she's lying."

Jael, Newton, and Silver continue debating which of their tributes is the is just sitting in his chair, smiling smugly, doing nothing. Meanwhile, I turn and study Perseus and 're watching a recap of their tributes' interviews on a small screen. I get up from my chair and go over to them.

"Mind if I watch?"

"I don't mind." Perseus says, moving the screen so I can see it.

They're watching Azula's , apparently, is the leader of the Careers. She looks amazing in a bright blue dress that ripples and moves as she does. Her angle seems to be sexy and fierce. It suits 's interview is over, and Dragan goes onstage. He looks like an ancient war god in his outfit. I heard that he actually gave a black eye to a stylist who tried to dress him in District Four's usual fishnets, and he would've given his stylist much more than a black eye if his mentors hadn't shown up right then and restrained him. His angle is one hundred percent killing machine. District Four really lucked out this year, with two strong tributes, one especially so. The tributes from four are they're true Careers, and sometimes they're weak and useless. Fortunately for Perseus and Mags, this happens to be a Career year.

Meanwhile, over with Jael, Newton, and Silver, their debate has risen to a shouting match. They're so into their argument, they don't even know that the Games are starting!

"Jael! Newton! Silver! Shut up! The Games are about to begin!"

This gets their attention. They watch the screens. "Ladies and gentlemen, let the 34th Hunger Games begin!" The announcer, whose name escapes me at the moment, shouts. To the right are rows of hills, with no river in sight. There's a forest to the left. The Cornucopia is fully stocked with everything the tributes will need to survive. A few seconds later, the gong rings. The Careers rush to the Cornucopia, picking out supplies. The girl from District 9 gets tackled by the boy from pins her to the ground, and then, a second later, falls onto her, his body squirting out blood. She pushes him off of her, and then an ax comes flying at her. The girl from 9 stands there, with no weapon to defend herself, she picks up the boy from 8's body and hurls it at the person who threw the ax. The girl from 5-she was the one who threw the ax-falls onto her back. The girl from 9 stabs her to finish her off, and then runs away. As she's running, an arrow flies toward her, piercing her in the , she falls to the ground, dead.

The camera moves over to the girl from 11, who's pinned Cayli to the ground. It swivels so we see the boy from 11, watching , it moves back to them.

"First time a Career will die in the bloodbath, huh?"The girl from 11 groans, and Jael looks like she's in actual pain, watching her tribute die. The girl from 11 starts to make a cut in Cayli's cheek, laughing, then the knife enters her back and the murderous gleam leaves her eyes. The girl from 11 falls over onto Cayli, who shoves her dead body away, pulling herself up and staring at the person who saved her .

"T-thank you!" she looks relieved.

"Careers gotta help each other out, right?" he says, smiling. In the interview, Dragan didn't exactly look like the "helping" type, but who knows?

"I'm you?"

"Cayli."She says, but as soon as she's about to say anything else she's lying on the ground, presumably dead, and Dragan is wiping off his bloody knife. Silver raises his eyebrow to Jael, as a silent way of saying, "See? I _told_ you she would never make it." You can't miss the wicked smile on Dragan's face. Dragan runs off into the hills and the camera turns around to the boy from 11, who just watched two people die and is inevitably wondering what happened. In a millisecond, he is flipped over and someone's spear enters his head.

The bloodbath is over. Only 6 died, which is from 2,Ashli from 5, Brandon from8 , Amy from 9, and both Matthew and Mary from Careers have gotten most of the supplies in the Cornucopia, and have set up a camp. There's another alliance, too, made up of both tributes from District 10 and the boy from have most of the other supplies. The TV is significantly less interesting now, which is why nobody is watching it.

Jael gives a death glare to Perseus and Mags.

"Th-this is all your fault!" she shouts, pointing a shaky finger at are visibly surprised. "You probably told Dragan to kill her, right? Because she's weak?"

"I did no such thing!" yells Perseus, getting up from his chair suddenly.

"Why'd he kill her, then?"

"Because." Mags says simply. "That's how Dragan operates."

"That! Isn't! An! Answer!" Jael yells. She looks like she's ready to punch Mags's lights out, then Mags smiles.

"Don't even try. I won,too,remember?" she says.

Jael calms down for a second. Too bad it's only for a second.

"Aagh! You're all a bunch of – "

We don't get to hear her final word, because she storms out the door, slamming it.

"Is she going to calm down?" Silver asks.

"Sure she is." Replies Kougar. "Just give her some time."

Jael's infamous among us because of her temper. But she always calms down eventually. The key word being _eventually_.


	2. In which everyone wants Dragan to die

Disclaimer:I don't own The Hunger Games.

Chapter 2: In which everyone wants Dragan to die

The next day, we're watching the Games again. The camera is currently on the Careers, which pleases all of is sitting on one of the many hills in the Arena, probably the one closest to the Careers' camp, probably plotting an evil , Victor calls his name and Dragan snaps back to attention, standing up. "Azula wants us to see if any other tributes are around." Victor says, snarling.

"Okay. Let's go." Dragan replies, taking the lead. They go further and further down the hill, and then Dragan stops. I have a sneaking suspicion what Dragan's going to do, and probably, in a few minutes, there's going to be one more mentor writing death threats to Perseus and smiles, and turns around to face Victor. In a split second, Victor's on the ground, writhing in pain and screaming.

"Trust no one." Dragan spits out, and then finishes him off. Victor's cannon fires, and then Dragan's smile is wiped right off his face. He probably is panicking about what he's going to tell the , he gets an idea. He gives himself a few cuts, then starts scooping up piles of blood from Victor's body and putting it on , he runs up the hill.

"Dragan! What happened?" Vanessa, Victor's sister, shouts.

"B-bear! It killed Victor!" Dragan stammers, trying to appear like he's not a psychotic murderer.

"WHAT?" Vanessa shrieks. She falls to her knees, blinking back tears. You can tell she's greatly saddened by the loss of her , Dragan just sighs.

Newton immediately leaves the room, disgusted by what just 's still pouting in her looks very impressed.

"They don't call him 'The Dragon' for nothing, folks." He says.

Now, it's just me, Silver, Kougar, Perseus, and Mags in the room.

"Congratulations. You've just ticked off 1 more Career mentor. I hope you're happy." I tell the District Four mentors. They're obviously offended.

"Really, it's not our fault! He's been like that since he could hold a weapon! I trained him myself at home, I talked with him! I know him!" Perseus yells. I'm about to make a rude comeback, when suddenly two cannon shots sound out of nowhere.

"Six." Says Silver.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"The tributes from District Six. They died."

"Oh." I say, feeling incredibly stupid. "That makes sense."

Suddenly, 3 people burst into the , Newton, and the female mentor from District Eleven.

"How could you _do_ that? Dragan-he killed an innocent little _girl!_" the female mentor from 11—I remember now, her name is Rhodedendron, but everyone calls her Rho- yells.

"Not to mention, two _very_ strong Careers." Jael points out.

"You saw what Victor's death did to Vanessa! You're horrible, District Four! Both of you!" cries Newton.

Perseus and Mags try to protest, but Rho shushes them. "No. This. Is. Unforgivable. I will never step foot in this room ever again. Goodbye." Jael says, and then walks swiftly out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I'm sure she doesn't have anything against me, just District ; this will all be over when the next Games start.

"Same for me." Says Newton, and then quietly leaves the room.

"I hope Dragan burns in hell." Rho spits out before flouncing out of the room.

"She's just overreacting." I say.

"That's an understatement." Says Kougar.

"You can say that again." I reply.

"That's an- "

"Shut up."

"But you said-"

"_SHUT UP!"_

He shut up.

The next day, Molly and Jake leave the Careers, which is somewhat surprising to me. I can't blame them, and Azula are major threats, and Vanessa is still upset over the loss of her brother. I don't know what to think about Elin, the male tribute from 's not very impressive, if you want to know the truth. He's forgettable. They meet up with the boy from district 9, making a new camp near the camp of another alliance, Kethsan and Flint from 10 and Logan from 5.

When they get settled in, Jake says to Molly, "Molly? You know I would do anything for you, right?" and my eyes automatically roll. Love is pointless in the arena. I learned that lesson the hard way with Trace. I told him to reveal I was his girlfriend in the interviews. He did, and the Gamemakers used it against him in every way possible in the arena-jabberjays with my voice (how they got that I'll never know), a wolf muttation that conveniently had the exact same shade of blond hair and green eyes as I do, and others I don't like to remember. Even though my namesake is the goddess of love, I discourage love in the arena, and I'm rather notorious for it. Some even call me "Loveless". But Jake probably kept his love for Molly a secret from Silver and I, because he probably knows how we mentors react to relationships during the Hunger Games.

Back on the screen, Jake is writhing in pain on the ground, and it isn't because of Dragan this time. It was Mike, the other tribute in their alliance, the boy from probably injured Jake because he also loves , I don't like love triangles. They never end well. Molly and Mike just heard footsteps coming and they scramble up into trees, hiding until the footsteps leave. Mike is spotted and he's dragged out of the tree and mutilated quickly. Two cannons fire, I guess for 2 other tributes. About thirty minutes later, he's dead and Molly comes down from her tree. She stares at Mike, lying on the ground.

"I tried to save him. I really did." Jake says. He's almost gone too. His voice sounds broken.

"I-I'm so sorry." Molly says, trying not to cry.

"I love you." Jake , he falls back and his cannon fires.

"I love you too." Molly , she gets up and steps backward into , from District 10.

"Allies?" she asks Molly.

"Allies." Molly confirms.

Then, the newly forged alliance starts to make plans and I turn the television off.


End file.
